Decisions set out in the book have been made under delegated powers by the Chief Executive, Executive Directors or the Chief Finance Officer and Monitoring Officer, in consultation either with the relevant committee or Lead Councillor.

The Decision Book process has been altered to suspend the current Councillors’ call-in arrangements within the 10-day period after its publication and replace it with the ability during that period for three Councillors to request a retrospective review of the decision in writing to the Head of Legal and Democratic Services.

The decision book can be accessed on the Council’s website – www.reading.gov.uk/decisionbooks.

The officer reports accompanying the decisions are attached.

Contact: Richard Woodford Committee Services
Tel: 0118 937 2332
e-mail: richard.woodford@reading.gov.uk

The Council is incurring significant additional costs and losing substantial income as a result of the Covid-19 emergency and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. The total net additional cost to the Council including Brighter Futures for Children (BFfC), as a result of Covid-19 up to 31 March 2021 is estimated at £15.598m. Staff costs account for a significant proportion of the Council’s overall budget costs. Making use of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is a way of reducing these costs with a view to protecting jobs in the future. Any decision to furlough staff will consider likely service recovery timelines, current redeployment arrangements and be in consultation with Assistant Directors and the Trade Unions.

The purpose of this report is to provide information on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and the types of roles it could apply to at the Council and sets out the decision that has been taken that Council staff should be furloughed under the scheme in order to mitigate the significant pressure on the Council’s budget and protect jobs.

It is the decision of the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Leader of the Council, that staff are furloughed in the following areas/groups, subject to detailed discussions with the relevant Assistant Director(s) and Trade Unions, and with agreement of the staff concerned:

- Staff in Culture
- Other service areas where work has ceased or reduced significantly
as a result of coronavirus
- Employees who are shielding and unable to work from home
- Casual workers who are not required to work as a result of coronavirus
- Staff who are unable to work because of caring responsibilities as a
result of coronavirus, and who are also unable to work from home.

It has also been agreed that the Council ‘tops up’ the 80% of salary, up to a maximum of £2,500 a month, that the Council would receive for furloughed employees by 20%, ensuring that these employees continue to receive full pay, but that the Council does not top up the pay of casual workers as they have no contractual working hours or pay entitlement.

That the start date for furloughing staff is the date when staff were no longer required to work as a result of coronavirus, to be backdated no further than 1 March 2020.